ARSPEX

An ARISS School Contact is scheduled Thursday 3 March at 14.17 UTC for the Technological Centre for Innovation in Communications (CeTIC), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain. The Institute for Technological Development and Research in Communications (IDeTIC), formerly known as CeTIC, is a Research and Development centre at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), which was founded in 2006. Formerly the CeTIC was composed of three research divisions in communications engineering with more than 10 years worth of experience, to whom were later added two new divisions in early 2009. Its main goal is transferring technology between companies and the university and, as part of it, to teach and train students in communications.

This was a telebridge contact by ARISS ground station W5RRR, located in Houston, Texas and operated by Larry Dietrich, WD8KUJ. Trond Bekken, LA4PGA operated the telebridge in the school. The conversation was conducted in English and in Norwegian. Catherine Coleman answered eight questions from the students.

An audience of 150, authorities and media participated to this event which was broadcast over EchoLink and IRLP by John Spasojevitch, AG9D. The audio recording of this contact is appended to this Bulletin, archived at www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm

An ARISS School Contact is scheduled Thursday February 17 at 10:33:46 UTC, which is 11:33:46 CEWT, for Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “Claudio Varalli” and Salvador Allende, Milano, Italy.

"Varalli" is both a Technical Touristic School and a Secondary School with an emphasis on foreign languages (Linguistic Liceo). The school is inside the Campus of Puecher Centre in the south part of Milan. During the five years course the students attend the study of English, French, German and Spanish languages. Technical Tourist School has 474 student while Linguistic Liceo has 174 student. For the school year 2010/2011 the school is planning the formation of 34 classes. Besides curricular activities, the students of the school attend meeting, seminars, conferences, visits, theatrical performances and exhibition. The school has a Radio Club Station with official call IZ2SHS, useful also for language training.

The School for Secondary Education “Salvador Allende” is located in a vast and well-equipped Campus in the south of Milan. It includes three different courses of study: secondary school with an emphasis on sciences (Scientific Liceo), secondary school with an emphasis on humanities (Classics Liceo) and technical high school for accounting. Sciences, foreign languages (both classical and modern) and technologies are fundamental features of the school and great attention is paid to the cultural and scientific education of the students who can attend several extra-curricular activities according to their interests: lectures and seminars, theatre performances, internships with companies or laboratories, study tours, exhibitions. The total number of students is over 900 divided into 45 classes, with approximately 100 teachers.

The contact will be a telebridge operated by ARISS ground station W5RRR, located in Houston, Texas. The event will be broadcast in streaming video on www.livestream.com/iz2shs The audio will be available on EchoLink AMSAT Conference and IRLP 9010 reflector.

An ARISS School Contact is planned for Lillestrom videregaende skole, Lillestrom, N-2001, Norway, Friday 11 February 2011 at 12:48:26 UTC , which is 13:48:26 CEWT.

Lillestrom Videregaende Skole (Lillestrom Upper Secondary School) is an institution in its region. The school was founded in 1884 and has developed into a modern, highly esteemed theoretical school (tertiary college) offering 16 – 19 year-olds a wide range of alternatives within social sciences, natural sciences and languages. The school is basically a traditional grammar school, but over the last 15 years two popular branches, media and music/dance/drama, have been added. Lillestrom videregaende skole offers IB (International Baccalaureate). We promote ourselves as a modern school specializing in natural sciences. The staff counts 130 teachers and administrative personnel. Approximately 800 students attend Lillestrom videregaende skole. The school is located in the township of Lillestrom app. 12 miles north of Oslo and 20 miles from Oslo Airport Gardermoen. It is thus centrally located with first-rate communications. The region is a research and scientific hub with two of the nation’s most distinguished scientific institutions as well as a university branch, all located close to the school. Over a number of years Lillestrom videregaende skole has enjoyed a rewarding and close cooperation with these institutions, It may also be of interest that Norway’s oldest Air Force Base; Kjeller, is situated nearby.

The planned ARISS contact is a telebridge operated by W5RRR and it will be conducted in Norwegian. The audio will be available on EchoLink AMSAT Conference and possibly IRLP reflector 9010.

After much effort and planning, a new satellite will soon receive a gentle push from a member of the International Space Station (ISS) crew that will send it into low earth orbit. The spacecraft, known as ARISSat-1, will add another dimension to science classrooms worldwide in addition to space communications for the amateur (ham) radio community.

The project is a cooperative effort between AMSAT, ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International SpaceStation), RSC-Energia (The Russian Space Agency) and NASA. The design, development and construction of the satellite was done entirely by AMSAT volunteers. Original plans called for the satellite to be hosted inside an old Russian spacesuit. But when the suit became unavailable, the radio equipment was modified and re-fitted to a newly designed space frame. The new satellite was named ARISSat-1.